Boiled egg times

A boiled egg comes down to minutes in a pan of water. Recipes give different times for what sounds like the same egg. The size of the egg, its temperature and how it goes into the pan explain most of the gap. Here are three published sets of times, each with its method.

Three sets of times

The cooks at BBC Good Food lower large eggs, at room temperature, into boiling water. Their times run like this.

Great British Chefs also start in boiling water, with eggs at room temperature. They give 5 minutes for a soft-boiled medium egg, 6 minutes for a large one and about 6½ for an extra large one. For hard-boiled they give 9 minutes for a medium egg and 10 minutes for any size.

The British Egg Information Service puts a large egg into cold water and starts the clock once the water is almost boiling. Its times run from 3 minutes, for the softest yolk on its list, to 8 minutes for a firmly hard-boiled egg. The same page says the consensus seems to point towards boiling the water first.

Why the times differ

Temperature at the start is one reason. A physicist at the University of Exeter worked out a formula for a soft-boiled egg lowered into boiling water. By his formula, a medium egg of about 57 g takes four and a half minutes straight from the fridge. The same egg takes three and a half minutes from room temperature.

Size is another. From the fridge, his formula gives about four minutes for a 47 g egg and about five minutes for a 67 g egg.

The sizes on the box

Packers grade Class A eggs by weight. The grades are set out in Regulation (EC) No 589/2008, as published on legislation.gov.uk.

Cracks and peeling

Eggs can crack when they meet hot water. Great British Chefs lower each egg to the bottom of the pan on a slotted spoon and slip it off there. The British Egg Information Service makes a small pin prick in the rounded end, so steam can escape.

For peeling, the British Egg Information Service taps both ends until they crack. It says slightly older eggs, still within their best before date, are easier to peel. Great British Chefs peel under water, and say a cold-water start makes eggs much harder to peel.

Runny yolks and who can eat them

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) advises on runny eggs for people at higher risk of food poisoning. In its words, "young children, people who are pregnant, older people and people with an underlying health condition (for example cancer, diabetes, liver and kidney disease) can now safely eat raw or lightly cooked hen eggs, or foods containing them if they have a British Lion mark or are produced under the Laid in Britain egg assurance scheme."

The FSA adds that this advice does not apply to people who are severely immunocompromised and on diets their doctors supervise.

Boiling eggs by the tray

Cafés and hotel kitchens boil eggs in numbers. The FSA's guidance for caterers, last updated on 20 August 2026, includes these points.

For runny yolks served to vulnerable customers, the FSA says to use British Lion or Laid in Britain eggs, or pasteurised egg.

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